Medical Hydrology and Balneology: Environmental Aspects

Effectiveness the treatments with natural mineral
water in low back pain for spondylarthrosis
Ferreira M (1) , Silva A (2) , Almeida A (3)
(1) Centro Hospitalar do Porto, Porto, Portugal
(2) Comissão de avaliação técnica no âmbito do termalismo da DGS, Covilhã, Portugal
(3) Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal
martaraujo87@gmail.com
Introduction and Objectives
Objective: Determine whether treatments with Unhais da Serra natural mineral
water, a Portuguese spa, are effective in low back pain for spondylarthrosis.
Materials and Methods
Methodology: A descriptive, longitudinal, observational, uncontrolled prospective
study was conducted. The 51 study participants underwent 14 days of treatment
with Unhais da Serra natural mineral water. Assessment criteria were: pain intensity
(Visual Analogue Scale), quality of life (SF36v2), disability (ODIv2), absenteeism,
acute outbreak/relapse, drug consumption. The evaluation was conducted in four
distinct stages: the first day before, 14 days, 3 and 6 months after the thermal treatment.
Results
Results: The mean age of the sample was 60.53 years, 60.8% were female. The
duration of illness was, on average, 7.35 years, 50.9% were retired and 90.2% were
from a countryside district. There was a statistically significant improvement (p